Getting ready to upgrade motherboard & cpu, what should i backup / do?

[Cheeriou]

Hi! I've been running an extremely old setup for a while now (A10-5800k APU). Been getting back into pc stuff recently so I decided to upgrade.

 

I'm getting a B450 tomahawk mobo (msi) along with a r5 3600 cpu. Also need to get new ram (ddr4). I've made all the purchases and am waiting to receive my order in the mail.

 

In the meantime, should I do a backup of my system? I have a 1tb hard drive full of stuff I mostly don't need (f. ex. games that i can redownload from steam), running windows 7. I am not going to change my hard drive.

 

So basically my questions are:
Should I backup my hard drive (or the parts i care about at least)

Do i need to upgrade windows to win10 (i'll do it in a few months anyway, but is there a risk of the new parts not working with win7, enough to where i need to do it immediately?)

Will I need to reactivate windows?

Do you have any recommendations to make the mobo switch as smooth as possible (videos, best practices etc?)

Thanks!

[Haraikomono]

Since you are using windows 7, definetly upgrade to win 10.

 

If your account is linked with the current Windows 7 System, then no. You wont need to reactivate, you just need to log in with your email on the new Windows 10 OS.

 

I assume Windows 7 is running on the Hard Drive ? If so, consider switchting to an ssd. like a 256gb cheap 2,5" one, for the boot drive. And you can still use the old hdd as extra storage space.

 

As for the conversion itself, take your time. If thats your first thinkering with hardware, then this is the best advice I can give you, dont force things, especially if they dont fit right away. Take your time, and dont over stress yourself when assembling the PC  

 

 

[GuiltySpark_]

Backup the stuff in your user folder then fresh install windows 10 on the new system. If you have a retail key for Windows 7, use that to activate Windows 10, otherwise you'll need a new key. 

[Cheeriou]

Hi, thanks for the help fellas. I'm still a bit confused though;

will my ryzen 5 pc not boot with windows 10 at all?

 

updating windows on this painfully slow machine is proving to be a pain. I can't get it to work (pc crashes every time once the "downloading" bit is done).